Quote Originally Posted by MMI View Post
Until you also realise that the space budget appears to be twice what is being provided for to meet future disaster costs ... So you can afford it, but should you be using it for other purposes after all?
My personal opinion (which I'm sure will not surprise you ) is that they could take virtually all of the foreign aid money and split it between space exploration and domestic disaster preparedness. I'm tired of having my country denigrated for trying to help others. (Sure, we've done some bad things: who hasn't? But we're still among the first to respond to a disaster, anywhere in the world. And people hate us for it.) So eliminating foreign aid wouldn't be any problem for me.
I note Tantric's concerns - do we want another Enron. Who's to say there will be, and who's to say that, without any space exploration there won't be? We humans are capable of behaving badly anywhere, but on balance, don't you agree we all behave rather well?
One way to avoid another Enron is to make sure there is plenty of competition. Space is pretty big. Each company grabbing an asteroid, or a small area of Mars, for example, shouldn't present any real problems. After all, even if you tried to claim it all, there's just too damned much of it for any one person, or corporation, to hold onto.
And yes, we all do behave rather well. As long as there's someone with a big stick smacking our butts when we step out of line.
Why can't Americans rely on others for (say) renewable energy?
As you are so fond of noting, MMI, America has tremendous resources. We shouldn't need to rely on others. Especially not with things of such obvious importance. Relying on unstable countries for the necessities is a disaster waiting to happen. It's far better to be self-contained for such things.